Just Can't Leave It Behind
by 6helterskelter6
Summary: Sydney is a waitress in Manhattan... see what happens when she meets a man she can't stand... AU
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Sydney Bristow walked into Daniel's restaurant ready for her interview. For two years she had been making her way up the ladder at the restaurant. She started out as a waitress and within eighteen months, she was the head of the wait staff. Today, she was going in for another interview, for a higher position. She was about to go into her interview for the position of hostess.

Daniel's was one of the top five restaurants in New York City. Originally she had gone to work there because she needed money, but she ended up staying because of the people. The pay had been great, which helped when she was working on her degree, but now she had graduated. She didn't want to leave because of her friends at the restaurant.

Eric Weiss was quickly becoming one of her best friends. He was the bartender at Daniel's, and he was one of the most wonderful people that he had ever met. Weiss would come over to Sydney's for dinner on their nights off sometimes. Francie and Will just loved him. Francie had told her to ask him out a few times, but Sydney couldn't do it. She just wasn't interested in him that way; she also didn't think that he would want that too.

The restaurant was silent this afternoon. They wouldn't be opening for four more hours. She looked around the room and saw Weiss pop up from behind the bar counter. "Hey Weiss," she said cheerfully.

"Hey Syd, good luck today! I hope you get the job, you totally deserve it," he said sincerely.

"Thanks." Sydney looked around the room and stopped when she laid her gaze upon the closed office door, "Is he in yet?" she asked.

"Yeah, he got in a while ago. He seems to be in a good mood today so that's good news."

"Well, I'm going to go in now, I'll see you later alright?" she got off the barstool and headed into her boss' office.

"Sydney," the man said, "How are you today?" he asked politely.

"I'm feeling great Dixon, thanks."

"Please take a seat," he said before indicating with his hand to the chair in front of him.

They went through her qualifications and talked about why she wanted the job, and an hour later Sydney left the office with a smile on her face. She walked over to the bar and Weiss instantly knew that she had gotten the job.

"I got it," she said cheerfully. "I start on Monday!"

"Syd, that's great!" he cried.

"I'm gonna go home and tell Danny."

Sydney left the restaurant excitedly and went home as fast as she could. She ended up making it to the apartment in 45 minutes, which was exceptional during the day in New York City.

She ran through the front door of the apartment and called Danny excitedly. She had seen his car in the parking lot out front so he had to be home, but when he didn't answer she began to look around the place. She heard sounds coming from the bedroom so she carefully walked through the hallway and stopped right outside the bedroom door when she heard a woman moan "Danny" in a moment of pleasure.

Sydney, stunned beyond all limits, pushed open the door and saw Danny lying on the bed with his hands on some blonde bimbo's hips as she was 'riding' him.

"Bastard," Sydney hissed and slammed the door. She heard him curse followed by some sounds of movement. The door quickly opened and Danny exited the room with a bedsheet wrapped around his waist.

"Syd, Syd please I can explain," he stumbled.

Sydney smiled at him with tears in her eyes, "You don't have to explain. I get it. You want something else. You couldn't have made it any more clear," she stated sadly. "I just came here to tell you that I got the promotion. But now, I'm going to tell you to go back in there and have some fun, while I go and forget about you. We're through Danny."

She turned from him and left the apartment, leaving a stunned Danny behind. She pulled her cell phone out of her purse and called Francie, telling her to meet her at the restaurant as soon as she could. She then called Dixon to tell him that she was coming in and he sounded very concerned for her. He treated her like a daughter most of the time, but when they were at work he treated her like the other employees. She liked it that way, because she didn't talk to her father. He was absent for the majority of her life. After the death of her mother he had been so distant, she was practically raised by nannies.

She got to the restaurant quickly because this time, she took the subway, leaving her car at one of those park and ride places – she knew that she wasn't going to be able to drive later. She went inside and saw the entire wait staff, as well as much of the kitchen staff with Dixon in the main dining room talking about what the evening's schedule would be. Sydney saw Weiss as the bar – par usual, and walked right up to him.

"Syd, what's wrong?" he asked when he saw her tear-stained cheeks and red eyes.

She smiled bravely at him and sat down on one of the bar stools. "I went home and found Danny…" she paused, not being able to fully believe that the 'love of her life' had cheated on her. "He was screwing someone else. In our bed," she spat out.

Weiss' face instantly contracted. "Syd, he's not worthy of you. You're too good for him. And, right now, I'm going to go and get some of the chefs and they will get their knives. We're gonna go cut his heart out."

Sydney laughed at his protectiveness, "Please don't, Weiss. I'll be okay. I just need to get away from him."

At that moment Francie came into the restaurant. She stopped in the doorway when everyone in the room stared at her. She waved and sheepishly walked to Sydney who was talking to Weiss. "Syd, what's wrong?" she asked when she saw her friend's distressed state.

"Hey," Sydney said.

"I'm just gonna go get ready for tonight," Weiss said before going back behind the bar and organizing miscellaneous bottles of alcohol.

"Thanks Weiss," she said before turning to Francie, "Danny cheated on me."

"Oh, sweetheart, he's nothing. He's such a bastard! I say that Eric, Will and I go over to his place and kill him."

Sydney laughed, "Weiss already threatened to do that… with the chefs."

"They love you Syd. You really have a family here."

Sydney smiled, "I know."

"So tell me what happened," Francie said.

"I came here and had my interview, and I got the job…" Francie squealed and offered her congratulations before Sydney continued, "So I went home and found him in bed with another girl. So I left the room and Danny followed. I yelled at him and then broke it off."

"Sweetie, it's gonna be alright," she said as Sydney began sobbing in her arms.

The meeting between the rest of the staff was now over and they had begun to come over and offer their assistance in killing the bastard or a shoulder to cry on. She thanked everyone and just asked to be able to stay at the restaurant for the night so she could be around people. Dixon allowed this, but said that as long as she wasn't really in the way she could be there.

"Francie, I'm going to be fine," Sydney said.

"I know something that can make you feel better!" Francie exclaimed, "We just got the new collection from D&G!" she smiled brightly. Francie had recently been hired as the head of the designer department at Neiman Marcus, which was great for Sydney because she could use Francie's employee discount.

"Oh, that's great! Can I come by tomorrow and buy some new stuff?" she pleaded.

"Why else would I have brought it up?" Francie laughed.

An hour later the restaurant was beginning to fill with the pre-show crowd. Sydney stayed at the bar with Francie, talking about what an ass Danny is and it was slowly making her feel a bit better.

When the pre-show rush had ended and the post-show crowd was beginning to fill the place up again, Sydney decided that it was time for her to go home. She told the guys that she'd see them on Monday when she started her new job as hostess. That was something she was actually looking forward to.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Sydney was getting ready for work. In front of her, all over her bed, were many different dresses that she could wear to work today. It needed to be gorgeous and professional, but not too fancy or sluttish. She finally settled on a yellow and brown summer dress for the lunch crowd and a black just-above-the-knee D&G dress for the evening crowd. The neckline was low, but not too low; just what she needed.

Today was her first day as hostess of Daniel's. Not only that though; it was her first day back at work after breaking up with Danny. She was feeling better about it already. Everyone was right – Danny just wasn't good enough for her; she deserved better.

It was surprising everyone how fast she was over Danny. She was really hurt inside, but she didn't think about him. If she wanted to, she could move on, it just isn't time for that yet. Maybe when she meets the 'right guy' she would take a chance, she would just be careful for the time-being. No more heartbreak, she promised herself before leaving the apartment.

She got to work an hour later, carrying her garment bag through the door she was greeted by Weiss who had seen her through the window. "Hey Syd! Nervous about today?" he asked.

"Nope, I've filled in for Sharon before so I should be ok," she walked behind the bar and folded her dress for the evening into one of the cupboards. "By the way, what do you think of this dress for the lunch crowd?" she asked him while taking a slight spin.

"It's really pretty," he said smiling.

"Thank you. So it's appropriate first day of my promotion dress?" she asked.

He nodded. "Well, you made it just in time, here's Dixon."

They sat through their normal meeting before Sydney left and got a quick lunch before the customers began rolling in. She came back into the restaurant and within five minutes they had their first people coming in. Sydney showed them to their seats with a smile and four hours later she was in the back changing for the evening crowd. They started rolling in and Sydney did the same as she had earlier, but this time she had been hit on by several men.

She had just seated a table of eight when a man walked through the door. She smiled at him, "Welcome to Daniel's, do you have a reservation?" she kindly greeted.

"Um, not exactly, I'm meeting my friend here. He's the bartender here."

"I'm sorry, he isn't expecting anyone tonight."

"Come on, I'm surprising him. I haven't been in town for a while and I wanted to say hi."

"I don't know," she said uncertainly. She wasn't supposed to bring people to the bar unless she had been told before-hand or if they had a reservation. She really didn't want to get in trouble on the first day of her promotion, so she would have to escort him to make sure that he was really Weiss' friend.

"Come on, don't you think it's a simple thing?" he said a little more frustrated.

"Fine," she sighed, "I'll have to bring you there though."

He sighed and shook his head. "Fine," he said angrily.

She walked him to the bar and saw Weiss instantly perk up at the sight of him. She smiled at the other man before walking away and was rewarded with a dark glare from him.

"Jesus," he said to Weiss, "What's her problem?" he asked.

"Syd?" Weiss asked, "Nothing, why?"

"She was a total bitch. She wouldn't let me walk over here after I told her that I knew you."

"Mike, we're not supposed to let people just wander through the restaurant, she's just doing her job. And I hope you didn't give her a really hard time because it's her first day doing that job and she's had a rough week."

"That doesn't give her any right to be that way," Vaughn scoffed.

"Okay," he sighed and then smiled, "So what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm in town for a business thing and thought that I should drop by and see you. It's been awhile."

Weiss took a piece of paper from a waitress and began to prepare some drinks. "Well it's nice to see you buddy. How long are you in town?"

"A while. Right now it looks like a month. We're doing a big merger and it's going to take up a lot of my time."

"Ah, so how is the whole lawyer thing working out for you?" Weiss asked.

"Well, it's pretty good. I've been offered a place as a partner."

Weiss smiled over at him, "Wow, dude that's great!"

He nodded and smiled, "I guess."

"What's up?" Weiss asked when he saw his friend frown.

"Alice and I broke up." Vaughn looked down at his feet with a frown upon his face.

"Oh, man I'm sorry. I know you cared about her…" Weiss drifted off. He had liked Alice, but he knew that she wasn't the right person for Mike.

"You know, you were right. When Alice and I got serious and you told me that she wasn't right for me, I didn't believe it until now. You were right."

"Mike, you'll find someone better. I know you will."

Vaughn nodded and looked out the window, watching the cars and people outside in the dark, "I should go. I have a meeting tomorrow morning."

"Hey, Mike, why don't you come over tomorrow night. It's Sunday so the secondary staff is working. I'll have some people over and I'm sure they'd love to meet you."

Vaughn nodded and turned to leave. He saw the hostess at the front of the restaurant looking over the dining room and noticed that her smile was faltering. At this moment he felt like the worst person in the world. A beautiful girl was just doing her job and he had to be a jackass.

He walked over to her, passing the customers eating their delicious meals and walked up to her, "Hi, I'd like to apologize for how I was acting earlier…" he paused when she sighed and then looked up at him.

"No problem," she said sarcastically.

"Look, I want you to be okay with it because Eric's my friend and I can tell he cares about you. I'm going to be in town for a while and I thought that we should get along for his sake at least."

She nodded, "Yeah, sure. Fine with me," she said quickly as a young couple in semi-formal attire came waltzing through the front door. "Welcome to Daniel's," she said cheerily, "Do you have a reservation?" was the last thing she said before he turned and left the restaurant.

_This is not my week,_ he thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Sydney walked into her apartment that she shared with her two best friends; Will and Francie. Recently, Francie and Will had begun dating, which hadn't been awkward for Sydney until she broke up with Danny. Now seeing them together, so much in love, made her feel like her heart was being torn out of her chest. It was horrible. She missed having someone in her life like that, but it wouldn't happen for a while. Originally, after breaking up with Danny, she had felt okay with it. She thought that she was over it, but she wasn't.

Maybe she needed a rebound guy; someone who might help her get through this. She couldn't go straight to some guy and jump into a relationship. Not seeing it until now, her trust in men is now non-existent. She should have realized it before, but she had been hurt that someone could do something like that to her. She had never been in love with Danny; something had been holding her back from him.

Maybe it was the fact that her father had never been around… but she couldn't really blame him for not being around her, he had loved her mother more than anything in the world. When she died, a part of him went with her. He couldn't look at her anymore because she reminded him so much of her.

She closed the door behind her and made her way into the kitchen where she heard Francie and Will arguing over something. It turned out that they were arguing over whether or not the tomato sauce needed more chilli powder or not. Francie was force-feeding a spoon of it into Will's mouth as Sydney walked into the room. They all started laughing at the amusing situation.

"Hey Syd. How was work?" Will asked.

"Not too bad. I met one of Weiss' friends from back in LA," Sydney stated with a slight grimace.

"What's that all about?" Francie asked when she saw Sydney's reaction.

"He was just a total jackass."

"What did he do?" Francie asked.

"He just didn't understand that I couldn't let him go into the restaurant unescorted or without me knowing that he actually is friends with Weiss. I didn't want to just let him wander through the place; that could get me fired. And I definitely didn't want to get fired on my first night."

"Did he at least apologize?" Will asked.

"Yeah, but it wasn't really a proper apology. He just said that he was sorry for acting like a jackass and I didn't accept it. Then he said that we should try to get along for Weiss' sake. So I agreed to that part. Weiss' friendship just means too much to me."

Francie and Will nodded. They set the table and ate their dinner while talking about their days and the news. Will had just begun a new job at the New York Times as their newest and brightest journalist, so there were many things to celebrate.

---------------------------------------------

"Guys?" Sydney called in the morning when she saw Will and Francie at the table eating breakfast. They turned their heads to see what she wanted. "Weiss wants us all to come over this weekend, that guy that I told you about last night… well Weiss wanted to have a get together to make him feel welcome. Do you want to come?"

"Sure!" Francie answered excitedly.

"Ok, great! I'll call him and tell him we'll see him on Sunday night!"

Sydney went to the phone and dialled Weiss' number, hearing someone other than him answer the phone, "Hello?" the voice asked.

"Hi, this is Sydney. Is Weiss there?"

"Sydney? The hostess from the restaurant?"

"Uh, yeah… why?" she asked hesitantly.

"It's Michael Vaughn. Look, I really do want to apologize for the way I treated you last night, I was just in a foul mood."

"Look, it was my first day and I just didn't want to get in trouble for letting some guy in. We've had things like that happen before."

"Well, you didn't deserve any of that. I treated the situation horribly."

"Don't worry about it," Sydney said.

"So, why are you calling on this wonderful evening?"

"Well, I wanted to tell Weiss that Francie, Will and I are able to come over on Sunday night."

"Oh, that sounds great. I'll tell him," they paused for an awkward moment of silence.

"Well, I guess I should go. I bet you have something else to do."

"Actually, I don't. I don't have any meetings tomorrow at all."

"Meetings?" Sydney asked.

"Oh, right. I'm in town for a big merger that's happening between the law firm that I work with and another one."

"Oh, that sounds exciting…" Sydney said softly.

"Yeah, no… not really," Vaughn laughed. "I guess I should let you go…" he paused, "Are you doing anything tomorrow?" he asked nervously.

Sydney blushed over on her end, "Um… I kind of have work."

Vaughn mentally slapped himself, "Oh, right. Well I guess I'll see you on Sunday," he said.

"Well, I don't work on weekends," Sydney slipped in quickly.

Vaughn smiled, "Really?" he said happily, "Are you free Saturday?"

"I don't know. I mean, something could come up," she said jokingly. "I'd have to know what you would plan for us to do…"

"Well, I haven't been to New York in about 12 years, so I would have to say… a picnic in Central Park and a trip to the Statue of Liberty."

Sydney giggled, "You know, after living here for my entire life, I have not been to the statue of liberty."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to take you there," he said.

"I guess you will," Sydney said.

"When and where pick you up?"

"Do you have a car here?" she asked.

"The firm is lending me one while I'm here."

"Okay, that's great then!" she said excitedly before giving him her address, "When do you want to pick me up?" she asked.

"I guess 11:00 would be good, that way we get to the park around noon," he replied.

"11:00 sounds great!" she said excitedly.

"I'll see you then," he said before they hung up.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Before Sydney knew it, a whole week had passed and she was standing in front of her mirror, trying to choose something to wear for her date with Michael. She wanted to wear something that made her look like a goddess, that wanted him, but it had to make it look like she wasn't to eager, or easy.

After almost an hour, and a the excruciatingly painful process of taking apart her closet, she ended up choosing a knee-length black skirt with a scalloped trim and a black tank top with a white lace over-shirt. Francie squealed when she saw her in the final outfit.

It was 10:50 and Sydney was beginning to go crazy. She didn't even know why; she had hated Michael Vaughn when they first met, but now something was different. Now, he liked her. Now, they were going out… on a date! Francie and Will had told her that if he hurt her they would castrate him, throw it out to sea and then hang him from the statue of liberty for all the immigrants to see as their first sight of New York City and America.

She loved them for it.

A few minutes later (which turned out to be _exactly_) 11:00 AM, there was a knock at the door. "Sydney!" she heard Will call, "Michael's here."

Sydney walked into the room slowly and Michael's jaw dropped to the floor. She was stunning. Wearing hardly any makeup and clothing that was modest, but wonderful, made her look like she was glowing. It seemed that she had achieved her goal to look like a goddess today.

"You look fantastic," he said after a few moments of pure gawking at her.

Sydney blushed and smiled, "You look good too," she whispered nervously.

They went out the front door and drove to the park. "So, what do you do?" Michael asked when they sat down on a small blanket. The food was laid out in front of them. Immediately after asking the question he mentally slapped himself. "I mean… what do you do… in your spare time," he covered nervously.

Sydney giggled, "I try to sleep and see Will and Francie. Up until last week, I guess, I would try and see Danny… but…" she drifted off.

"Who's Danny?" he asked her curiously.

"My ex. We just broke up. I caught him in bed with someone else. It was the day before you and I met. That was one reason why I was a little bitter and mean to you."

He nodded, "I don't get it," he said. Sydney looked at him confused, "I mean, I don't get how someone could cheat on you."

Sydney blushed, "Well, he did. We hadn't been seeing each other for long, but it still hurt."

"Well, I honestly couldn't have done something like that to anyone. I don't understand how someone could cheat on someone."

"Well I guess that's something I won't have to worry about with you," she said smiling.

He smiled at her, "You mean, you actually want to see me again?" he asked.

"Well, you're cute, you've got a great job with a future, and you just told me that you won't cheat. That's all good in my book."

"So you're just after my money, aren't you?" he asked jokingly with a smile on his face.

Sydney smiled and nodded, "Of course! I'm such the gold digging type, aren't I?" she batted her eyelashes at him.

"Well, that's what I thought."

They finished their lunch in the park and headed off to the Statue of Liberty. It was windy on the ferry ride, so Michael bought her a hat and sweatshirt to wear, keeping her warm. That was something that no one had ever done for Sydney before. Michael was the first man to ever keep her wellbeing above his own. He made her feel special and feminine.

When they reached the top of the tower, to the observation deck area, they just stared out into the horizon, watching the clouds move through the almost clear sky. "It's really a beautiful day," Sydney said after a long silence.

"It's a perfect day," Michael answered.

"I don't want it to end."

"Neither do I."

"It doesn't have to, you know…" Sydney said slyly. "We could have dinner together too."

"I like that idea," Vaughn whispered.

"But, I have to go home for a few minutes and get changed."

"I guess I'll have to do that too. I somehow think that jeans and a t shirt are not appropriate for dinner."

"Where do you propose we got tonight?" Sydney asked.

"Well, I don't know what's here… I want to take you somewhere that's really romantic, because I'm trying to make a good impression."

"Well, I can say that so far it's working."

Sydney and Vaughn smiled at each other and walked back down to the ferry. When they got back on the mainland, Vaughn drove Sydney back to her apartment, and went to his hotel. When he got to the hotel he asked the concierge to make a reservation under Vaughn at a romantic, high-class restaurant. When he came back down to the lobby the concierge gave him the name of the restaurant and the address. He was back to Sydney's in forty five minutes.

When Sydney opened the door, Vaughn was speechless. She was wearing a black halter dress that was knee-length with a criss-crossed back. A pair of black lace heels were on her feet, making her legs look longer and more slender than they already were. She was stunning. "You're a goddess," Vaughn sighed.

Sydney blushed and took his hand, "Thank you."

"Well, we're going to 'Le Select Bistro' for dinner tonight," he said happily.

"You know, I've never been there before. But I've always wanted to go."

Vaughn smiled, "Well, you're going with me now."

Sydney nodded and smiled, "I've heard that the food is fantastic."

"That's what the concierge told me," Sydney shook her head and laughed as they drove to the restaurant.

Dinner went fantastically. There were no awkward pauses in conversation and the food was impeccable. After a dessert, which they shared, Vaughn drove Sydney back to her apartment. They walked to the door and stood there, staring at each other for what seemed like hours to them. "I should probably go," Vaughn said.

Sydney smiled and nodded, "You probably have a meeting or something tomorrow morning," she whispered. Vaughn nodded, "I had an amazing time today Michael."

"So did I," he whispered. Their faces were moving towards each other slowly. Sydney's hand reached up and cupped his face, milliseconds before their lips touched. It started out sweetly, as a soft and tentative first kiss, but ended up as so much more. They kissed with such passion and ferocity that they had never felt before. Nothing could compare.

When they broke apart, both of them had soft smiles on their faces. Sydney took out her key and opened the door. She kissed Vaughn on the cheek softly before stepping into the house. "Goodnight," she whispered before closing the door.

"Goodnight."


End file.
